


to love a beast

by Green



Series: The Rest Is Still Unwritten [6]
Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Alpha Peter Hale, Empathy, Love at First Sight, M/M, Season/Series 01, Soul Bond, Soulmates
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-10
Updated: 2019-11-10
Packaged: 2021-01-26 22:13:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,312
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21381433
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Green/pseuds/Green
Summary: When they catch the Alpha in the basement of the school, trap it like an animal, Stiles can't help but wonder what's behind all the monstrous acts. He wants to see it up close. What does it even look like, beyond dark and towering?
Relationships: Peter Hale/Stiles Stilinski
Series: The Rest Is Still Unwritten [6]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/369341
Comments: 85
Kudos: 998





	to love a beast

**Author's Note:**

> cleaning out my drafts. unfinished but mostly ends in a good place.

When he was a child, his mother would tell him stories. Ghost stories. Horror. Legends. Fairy tales with monsters and witches and blood and gore. The gorier the better, so he loved the older ones. The Brothers Grimm were grim indeed, and Stiles loved to watch his mother's face as she read from the books Stiles loved the most.

And then she told other stories. Ones that weren't in the books. About monsters who weren't really monsters at all, and about the people who hurt them, hunted them, misunderstood them. About witches who only wanted to do good. About long, ages past whispers of how to tame a monster, how to love them. How to see them for what they really were inside instead of how everyone else would perceive them.

So Stiles learned about justice and right and wrong and the law from his father. But Claudia Stilinski taught Stiles his earliest lessons about love. She whispered to him about how loving someone was sometimes pain, sometimes meant doing things you wouldn't ordinarily do.

He remembers all of the lessons his parents taught, and the ones he learned on his own. He knows what it's like to love someone who looks at him like _he's_ the monster. He knows what it's like to feel monstrous for something beyond his control.

When Scott becomes a werewolf, nothing changes. Stiles loves Scott like a brother, and that will never change. Neither, it seems, will the fact that to some, Scott is an animal unworthy of love. Unworthy of a chance to prove he's not (just) a monster.

Scott angsts and howls with rage and Stiles doesn't know how to tell him he understands. But he can show Scott they'll always be bros, that Stiles won't turn away because of a little lycanthropy.

When they catch the Alpha in the basement of the school, trap it like an animal, Stiles can't help but wonder what's behind all the monstrous acts. He wants to see it up close. What does it even look like, beyond dark and towering? 

If he's completely honest with himself, he wants to look into its eyes.

He shines a light through the window, even while Scott tries to stop him.

"I'm not scared of this thing," Stiles defends. The Alpha growls and throws a huge paw up to the window. It startles Stiles, makes him jump back. Makes his heart race, too. Is it angry? Offended? Stiles calls out to it, "I'm not scared of you!"

It's the first time he's spoken to the Alpha, and talking to the trapped monster makes something inside him twist. It's a taunt. 'You can't do anything to me', it says. But it's not true, because it's happening, a thing inside him is grinding, clicking, moving into place — he clutches his chest.

"What is it?" Scott asks.

"Something's…" _Wrong?_ No. He turns back to the small grated window. He still can't see anything, but he feels the Alpha. The sensation is all burning pain and recognition. Anger and vindication and… sudden bewilderment. 

"Stiles?" Scott asks.

And then there's a loud bang and a roar, and the Alpha shoots up through the ceiling, never really caged at all. Scott takes off running and Stiles is alone. The pain is gone just as quickly as it came on, and Stiles is left with an ache and the lingering sense of recognition.

He still hasn't looked into the monster's eyes, but he's seen something even more important. He just isn't sure what words to put to it.

Stiles catches up with Scott, who expects the Alpha to continue his game. Scott thinks the Alpha wants to chase and play some more, to mess with their heads, especially now that they find Allison, Lydia, and Jackson have been lured to the school with a fake text. Scott convinces them to hide. Jackson mocks him.

But Stiles knows something, even as Scott waits for the other shoe to drop. The Alpha is long gone. Something happened in the basement to make him want to retreat.

Maybe it's the same something that happened to Stiles, too. Maybe the Alpha felt something from _Stiles_. The thought is crazy. Stiles is half convinced he made it up. But when he's finally lying in bed, safe and sound, he realizes something.

He's stopped thinking of the Alpha as an 'it'. He's stopped thinking of him as a monster from a nightmare or one of the old fairy tales. The Alpha is still a monster, of course, but…

What if he's another kind altogether? And maybe Stiles can't tame the beast, and maybe he can't love the beast, but…

He can at least try to understand him.

* * *

Peter knows what it means, and he wants to howl his dismay. A soulmate, a _mate_, is not what he was looking for. All he's cared about since regaining lucidity is revenge. A mate doesn't fit his plans.

But he knows better than to try to resist the pull or deny his instincts. The boy is his (and he belongs to the boy).  
But while his mind is sharp and he can think with clarity, he's not exactly thinking with rationality. 

He takes the boy. Stiles. Grabs him from his bed (the boy fights but he's no match for Peter) and absconds with him out the window. Takes him to an old cabin on the edge of Hale territory, a place only he knows about anymore.

He deposits the boy on the rug in front of the empty fireplace. There's a heater running on the other side of the room, so it's not cold in the two-room cabin.

The boy looks at him in fear and he hates it. He knows his Alpha form is monstrous, but there's nothing for it. He's strongest like this. Clear.

"Where are we?" Stiles asks, looking around. "Why… why'd you take me? Are you going to bite me?"

His heartbeat is so fast, but his fear-scent is beginning to dissipate now that they're in the cabin and Peter isn't making any violent moves.

"Okay so I can guess why you took me," Stiles says. 

Yes. His little mate is smart. Peter rumbles with pleasure. Stiles jumps a little but gathers himself again quickly. 

"Why do you hurt so much?" Stiles asks quietly. His hand lifts as if he wants to reach out to touch but he stops himself.

Peter shuffles closer, as slowly as he can. He doesn't want the boy scared, and he knows his Alpha form is that of a monster.

Stiles watches him warily. Peter lowers his head and settles it on his paws. He watches his boy and waits for him to speak again. He doesn't have to wait long.

"This is really weird," he says. "But… it's okay, I guess. As long as you take me back home after a while. I don't want my dad to freak out. He'd put out an Amber Alert on me, you know. So… this is a temporary kidnapping, right?"

Peter huffs in displeasure.

"None of that. This is a _temporary kidnapping_."

The kid is just so cute. Peter rolls his eyes and inches forward. 

"Whoa, what's this?" Stiles asks, but he doesn't smell of fear, just surprise.

Peter lays his head at Stiles's feet and looks up at him.

"You look more like an actual wolf now, you know," Stiles tells him. "Less like that thing. But you're still… I'm not sure what to call you. My monster, I guess." He says it softly, carefully, and in a way that's meant not to hurt. 

Peter doesn't care if he's called a monster, though. He's the biggest, baddest-

"I can feel that. I can feel what you feel. What is this, really?" Stiles asks. He looks into Peter's eyes, unafraid. "You can transform into a man and tell me, but you don't want to."

Peter does and he doesn't. He's comfortable like this. He's got more power and strength in this form than his human one. Plus, his human form is still scarred, still… monstrous.

But the boy doesn't care what he looks like, it seems. And he's special. His mate. But…

"Okay, something's holding you back. I get it. Well, I don't get it but it's something and I can feel that," Stiles says.

Peter puts his head in Stiles's lap. He listens as the boy's heart pounds harder. 

"Can I…?" Stiles asks, and places a gentle hand on top of Peter's huge head. "Your fur is softer than it looks." His voice is hushed now. He runs his fingers over Peter's furry ears softly. "Wow."

Peter lets out a pleased rumble.

"I have no idea what's happening," the boy says, and while his heart doesn't skip, Peter knows he at least has an inkling. Stiles yawns suddenly and Peter tilts his head to look at him. He looks exhausted. And yes, Peter stole him from his bed. Carried him off into the night like the beast he is. 

He's starting to think that wasn't a good idea. Still, it's good to be close to his mate. To follow his instincts and let the boy in. He senses Stiles can be ruthless, dangerous, under the right circumstances. Thankfully, he seems to be giving Peter a chance.

Peter gets up and scoops the boy up into his arms. 

"Whoa, hey, what are you doing?"

And deposits him on the bed. Presses him back on the pillow when Stiles tries to pop back up again.

"Wait, what's going on?"

Peter huffs and lies down with his boy. He cuddles him close, petting his head as gently as Stiles did his own. Then rumbles, "_Sleep_."

"You can talk like this? Oh my god. Oh my god that would sound so scary if… well if I was anyone else, I think. But…naptime, huh? I am tired. Which is why you did this, I'm sure. Okay. Just… just for a little while." And then Stiles settles.

He's asleep within minutes.

* * *

The Alpha takes him back before dawn, long before his father comes home.

* * *

"You must be Stiles," the man says. Peter Hale, the Alpha. Stiles's monster. He says it in a mild way, but Stiles can hear beneath that, the longing. The want. 

Stiles drops the phone and walks closer. "And you're my monster." It's dangerous, just like it's all been dangerous, but Stiles doesn't care. Peter won't hurt him. 

Peter's face softens, and Stiles notices for the first time the burn scars on the side of his face. He reaches up and touches them with trembling fingers. Peter jerks but he doesn't flinch back all the way. He lets Stiles touch.

Stiles thinks about how Peter got the scars, how he lost his family. He can barely breathe thinking about what happened to his…

"Mate," Stiles says. "That's what this is, isn't it?"

But before Peter can answer, Derek comes barrelling down the hall. "Get away from him!"

Peter grabs Stiles and holds him tightly for a moment. Stiles can barely breathe from the pressure, but Peter eases up when he realizes. "Yes," he whispers. 

Stiles nods. "You have to go," he whispers back.

"Come with me," Peter says. It's practically a plea but Stiles knows he can't do it. He has to stay behind and convince Derek not to go after him. 

Derek is standing back now, probably afraid for Stiles's life, afraid Peter can hurt him with one swipe of his claws. One bite, maybe.

"Stay back," Stiles says to Derek. "He won't hurt me."

"I never would," Peter agrees.

"Uncle Peter?" Derek says, sounding… lost. Confused. Peter is feeling something bitterly sad, and Stiles realizes it's regret.

Stiles leans up and kisses Peter's scarred cheek. "Go on now."

"I'll see you later," Peter promises. 

A few moments later, Derek asks, "What the hell was that?" and Stiles… well, Stiles tells him the truth.

* * *

Derek tells Scott. Scott flips out.

"You can't do this, Stiles!"

"It's already done," Stiles answers. "It's not like I had any control over it."

"The Alpha is a monster. A killer," Scott says slowly.

"Didn't Derek explain this to you?" Stiles asks. "Peter… has some issues to work out. And okay, maybe that's an understatement. But he's not what you think."

"I think he's a psycho animal who turned me into a werewolf and tried to get me to be a psycho animal, too!" Scott says.

"He's getting better," Stiles says, and he feels like this is the truth.

"You think you can change him," Scott says incredulously. "He killed his own niece! Not to mention-"

"I know!" Stiles cuts in. Then, less loud, "I know what he's done. I know what he is. But I'm just saying that's not all he is. And he's changing, since we… bonded. I can feel it. I can feel _him_."

"How do you know it's not just a trick to turn you into a killer, too?" Scott asks.

Stiles thinks about the Hale pack and the fire that destroyed them. Even Derek is destroyed, in his own way. His mind flashes him the sight of Peter, burned and aching, raging, and growls. "Maybe some people deserve to be killed."

* * *

Peter doesn't try to kidnap him again, but he does visit when Stiles's father is working late and the house is too quiet and empty.

"It's not like you want to kill people for fun," Stiles says. He's pretty adamant.

"You're adorable. No, I'm not killing people for any reason other than revenge." Peter runs a hand over Stiles's hair. "Though I can't say it isn't pleasing to give them what they deserve. I'm a monster, Stiles. I have the instincts and morals of a wolf."

Stiles rolls his eyes. "You're more than just a monster."

Peter looks at him, feeling… vulnerable and hopeful. "I'm glad you think so."

**Author's Note:**

> see series notes: I'm not writing more of this. but please let me know if you like it!


End file.
